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Initially I learned about Aikido from the book Positive Energy by Judith Orloff where she, as a therapist, recommends Aikido for a patient.

I also learned about it from a well known author by the name David Deida, and in many of his books and teachings, he refers to Aikido from the spiritual context that he teaches from.

Luckily, a friend of mine (now my Sensei) whom I met a long time back, was teaching Aikido and I had lost touch with him but through a mutual friend who is also an Aikidoka I attended one class just to see if I could do it out of concern for my heavy build, I realized I could. And I've been practicing for 8 months now.

My concerns are keeping my knees in good health, which has been a challenge, and taking care of my shoulder which was dislocated at an early age and through this forum I hope to see other people who had similar experiences and to share mine.

Welcome! Your concern about maintaining your joints safely is good - for knees, the safe practice is to keep toes, feet, knees and hips all aligned together and to not bend your knee at more than 90 degrees (you should just be able to see your toes under your knee). Minimize the time you spend in seiza. For both knees and shoulders, making sure to do out-of-the dojo strengthening of the surrounding muscles that provide support to the joints is really important.